Justice League of America #26 Review

Writer: Dwayne McDuffie
Art: Ed Benes

This is pretty much a filler arc, so who cares? Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are barely featured, and recently pushed stars like Tornado aren't even there. It is easy to blow past this arc, but I felt it did a strong job in looking into Vixen's character. For casual readers, she just seems like another one of those JLAers, and it takes certain arcs and issues to establish and build some of the minor characters in these big team books. I totally appreciate how McDuffie does this in this short arc. He presents a low-level character named Vixen with alternate-reality characters, and uses her to work through. It is a classic, but not often used, storyline of a minor character fighting her way to save the major characters. McDuffie gives us a compelling character study. Vixen has to confront her own fears and insecurities to save the day. Anasi is a great villain who breaks the proverbial 4th wall. He comments on storytelling, and captures all of the heroes and distorts what is real and fake. It is Vixen's job to wade through this, and after its all said and done, you actually care about the character. It is a pretty basic premise and storytelling device, but McDuffie does it beautifully. He has a great villain in Anasi, who is a no-name, but is presented very strongly. He has the minor character go over in a way where she discovers new layers within herself. I thought the alternate batman was pretty awesome as well. A gunslinger. That is juts awesome. The art wasn't great

ART: Etch and Sketch
OVERALL: Get it

Justice League of America #25 Review

"The Best Lack All Conviction"
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art by Ed Benes

Justice League has been in a state of flux for a while now and 25 is a new launching point. They say it is a double issue but the first half is about basically finishing everything that Meltzer has previously done and the second half is where the true meat of the issue begins. The first thing that struck me when I read this was how the League treated Animal Man. I found It a bit weird that they consider him a quack especially what they have been through. It never makes sense in comics when superheroes are skeptic of one another experiences since they routinely die and deal with mind altering events. It was nice to give a nod to the work Morrison has done in Animal Man because he is the only character that is aware of his medium yet no one believes him about it. The second half was when McDuffie finally gets to tell a story that will result in the introduction of several superheroes DC has acquired which include Static Shock (yay). The art is great as usual but it isn't all Benes as the solicits on DC.com indicate but due to sheer laziness that would outstand most people I won't reflect that in the credits but will rather list them here (it's all about principles): Benes, Mahnke, Robertson, Davis, Churchill, and Reis. They combine to make a nice looking comic but there are scenes where you can clearly see that it is different artist. You can't really experience it though late in the issue. There is a point in this issue where I suffered from dialog fatigue. There was so much written and coming off all the previously written amount of text I went into that cruise control where it doesn't stick and you will end up going through the motions. The main villain is the Trickster God and he is responsible forgiving Buddy his powers which is basically recons his whole origin of being experimented on. I really don't like the character of Firestorm and I don't think he belongs in the Justice League. In all honestly he is more Brave and Bold than League material. I would rather they bring back Justice League International and put him on there rather than have him on this title. I don't like the fit and it seems like a matter of simple matter of respect, where does he get the rights to call someone else crazy, he hasn't don't anything to warrant that. He is just disrespectful. I did manage to reread the issue and get through the text and this story has some great upside. The new Justice League that Vixen will most likely recruit looks real interesting. I liked the little back-story that the Trickster God gave them was a very interesting plot device. The god of stories was creating these stories that will become characters. I am guessing that they were going for some meta-textual commentary using this character and how the success of the stories they tell about these characters basically beating the creator basically guarantees the creators victory. I said it very poorly but there is a message there along those lines. The story is good and it is about time that we get to finally enjoy this title since it has been a while since the Injustice League arc in which McDuffie got to tell a story (that arc is very enjoyable)and outside the point where the art switches it is consistently good.

Art: BALLIN
Overall: GET IT

Justice League of America #22 Review

Writer: Dwayne McDuffie
Art: Ed Benes

Ehh. I was hoping for some Final Crisis tie in goodness but no. I honestly haven't read this title for a while so I was wondering what McDuffie was up to. I came in knowing he didn't have what it takes to deliver a thorough story, but he is more of a popcorn guy. Well i read this and i was unimpressed. The story didn't do anything for me because it was so spread out and there was hardly any focus. My favorite scene was with Superman giving Red Arrow some relationship advice. I am slowly turning into a Superman guy, and this scene just showed what a good guy and a good friend he can be. I got a kick out of Superman saying him and Lois got into a fight, and Arrow was like "Did she use Kryptonite or.....". It was a decent laugh. The art isn't good, straight up. I don't recommend this.

Art: Hit it and Quit it
FORGET IT